Where Defeat Is Not An Option

The New York Times is worried that the revelation that the Obama Administration spied on Trump will lend credence to Trump’s claim that the Obama Administration spied on him.

The MSM – all at once and all together – decided that Louis Farrakhan is a far right person. It was when Farrakhan got banned by Facebook along with some other people, some of whom were actually of the right. You might recall the time the MSM labelled George Wallace a Republican. So, like that; but, also, different. A very large number of major MSM outfits called Farrakhan far right…almost as if there was a memo that went out and the MSM just transcribed it as news.

A ten month old child died when the raft she was crossing the Rio Grande on tipped over. This is 100% of the fault of American liberals who encourage people to make these dangerous journeys.

We’re going to need a bigger Navy. A lot bigger. I think Trump instinctively understands this, but I don’t see any admiral out there ringing the alarm bell and really pushing a naval buildup. We need a Jacky Fisher.

President Trump proposes to give the Border Patrol power to decide asylum cases on their own. Makes sense: make a fast judgement on their asylum status. If they’ve got a good case, let them stay…if not, back home they go.

Trump’s magic wand at work again as US Steel gets ready to invest a billion dollars in a new Pittsburgh steel plant.

Liberal Democrat justifies abortion by suggesting if we don’t kill them in the womb, we’ll just have to kill them when they are adults.

38 thoughts on “Open Thread”

Thank God for Trump. Trump is my last line of defense. Trump is the only thing that stands between me and these hallucinogenic socialist nut jobs.

Yes, thank God for Trump. The authoritarian Democrats are becoming more unhinged by the day. Their fascist tactics of investigating, indicting, and imprisoning their political opponents is backfiring on them and soon the investigative lens will be turned on them and they are panicking.

Everyday the Democrats and the Media make me appreciate the Donald more and more.

TRUMP 2020 !!

M. NoonanMay 3, 2019 / 6:17 pm

I keep getting into it on Twitter with the Fredocons…”How can you support Trump! He’s immoral and breaks the law!”. My response: When has he broken the law? Also, for all the stories of Trump’s infidelities, what I notice most is that they are uncorroborated. Now, do I think Trump pure as the wind-driven snow? Nope…but no one can even, for sure, say that he sleeps around.

AmazonaMay 4, 2019 / 10:11 am

Yes, Trump WAS immoral. And now there is no evidence that he has continued to live this kind of life. I find that so-called Christians quite happily forego the basic Christian tenets of salvation, redemption and forgiveness in favor of the decidedly UNChristian attitudes of hatred, slander, libel and judgementalism. After all, it is part of Scripture to stop fretting about the mote in someone else’s eye instead of focusing on the beam in your own. I repeatedly told Erick Erickson that I could easily imagine him being all squinty-eyed and pinch-mouthed marching up to Christ and getting in His face, lecturing Him on the immorality of hanging out with sinners. Who did Christ entrust with the future of His church? People known as immoral sinners.

Never forget what the Democrats did to Gen. Mike Flynn and SC Justice Brett Kavanaugh. And now their latest assault was leveled at Stephen Moore:

What did me in was not my economic ideas but gutter campaign tactics and personal assaults. I’ve been called an adulterer, a misogynist, a tax cheat, a deadbeat dad, antigay and mentally unfit. A Washington Post editorial warned that I was a “dangerous” pick for the Fed, and a columnist said I could cause a “global financial calamity.” They must imagine I have superheroic powers of persuasion. If appointed, I would have been one of seven Fed governors…

The low point of the sleaze campaign was when the media successfully persuaded the Fairfax County, Va., courts to unseal my divorce records from nine years ago—over not only my objections but my ex-wife’s. The Post, New York Times and others unfolded our dirty laundry on their pages—never bothering to report that she and I are on amicable terms and often jointly attend our kids’ events. Anyway, what do the details of my divorce almost a decade ago have to do with my suitability to help set monetary policy?

The sleuths in the media also tracked down spoof Christmas letters I wrote to friends and family in the late 1990s and early 2000s. These were outrageous and irreverent and poked fun at everyone and everything, including myself. In 2002 I wrote that I had bought a red sports car—my “midlife crisis” car—in which I cruised around town with my kids strapped into baby seats, trying to pick up women. Obviously I never did any such things, but reporters ignored the obvious humor and described it as evidence of sexism.

These are truly despicable people. Never back down and exact justice when the time comes. And whether that justice comes in the form of a court room or a bullet makes no difference to me.

AmazonaMay 3, 2019 / 10:33 am

I have been a huge Stephen Moore fan for years. I have seen him speak and read a lot of what he has written and one of his books. I think he is not only brilliant but has a sound, logical mind and is realistic. When I heard he had stepped away from the nomination I was very upset—not just because the Fed lost a valuable asset, but because it was a victory for the despicable slash-and-burn tactics of the increasingly volatile Left.

We have to stop them. Here, I would start with going after whoever unsealed those “sealed” divorce records. Remember, this is the sleazy tactic that got Obama elected—finding a corrupt judge or someone to reveal the “sealed” child custody records of his opponent in the Senate race, Jack Ryan. No one ever paid a price for that violation of law and ethics. So they did it again. And I predict no one will pay a price for this, either. So it will happen again.

In Colorado, the increasingly smug and smarmy Jared Polis (I still choke on the phrase “Governor Polis”) just issued an IQ test for Coloradans, to see just how stupid we are. Weeks after signing the legislation binding us to the Popular Vote Compact, which would have the effect of stripping us of our votes for president, handing them over to some coastal Liberal vote-generating machine and ensuring that no presidential candidate will even bother to campaign here or even spend a dime seeking Colorado voters, he announced that the move to make Colorado’s presidential primary one of the earliest in the country will mean huge expenditures here by potential candidates.

Seriously? They won’t say “Who cares what Colorado thinks?” But he was so smug and smirky when he announced this I nearly vomited. What a sleazy slimeball he is. We don’t have enough delegates to make much of a difference on the national stage when it comes to choosing a candidate, and I have to think any hopeful is going to look at the state and realize that no vote here after the nomination is going to matter anyway, so why not put funds and efforts into a state where they might make a difference?

ClusterMay 3, 2019 / 11:35 am

Obama elected—finding a corrupt judge or someone to reveal the “sealed” child custody records of his opponent in the Senate race, Jack Ryan.

I had forgotten about this … how soon we forget right? In fact part of the left’s success is dependent on short term memories.

Watched Senator Michael Bennett (D-CO) interview today on MSNBC. He is a special kind of stupid too.

Retired SpookMay 3, 2019 / 11:00 am

I wish there was some way we could hit fast forward a few weeks and get the DOJ IG Report sooner rather than later. Depending on what it reveals, I suspect it will kick off an intense investigation by Barr and the DOJ itself into the details behind this attempted coup we’ve been watching unfold for the last 2-1/2 years.

jdge1May 3, 2019 / 11:48 pm

The Catholic Church was once a place to turn to for moral support and direction. It seems many of those in power are now bent on its destruction. Here are just a few clips from articles I’ve read recently to show just how far we’ve descended.

”Pope Francis made a strong new push for globalism on Thursday, calling for a supranational, legally constituted body to enforce United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and implement “climate change” policies.” How could any Pope knowingly advocate for an institution that is pushing for a “One World” government, that it is bent on the destruction of the Church itself?

” The Catholic Diocese of Syracuse has paid nearly $11 million to settle claims with 79 sex abuse victims, according to a report released Wednesday.” This is without doubt, just the tip of many more such claims to come. Why would anyone support an institution whose superiors moved priest to various parishes that were know to have sexually abused individuals, only to be allowed to strike repeatedly over a period of decades? And then expend effort and finances to hide both the fact that the abuse happened and the fact that the bishop(s) were at least partially responsible for it to happen? The worldwide financial disaster from this fallout yet to come could easily run into the billions, not to mention the negative implication to the institution.

Apparently this is old news but something I was not aware of until recently. ” Catholic Relief Services took funds to implement Kenyan AIDS relief programs for children that promoted abortifacients and condoms, according to the newest set of charges leveled against the US Bishops’ international aid agency. The latest report also alleges that CRS played a role in falsifying government documents to cover up its involvement in the programs after its leadership learned that word had gotten out on them.”

It seems like giving money to the Catholic Church is like giving money to the RNC. While they might do good with it, they could also be using it for candidates or services that I do not wish to support.

That doesn’t mean people are sitting back waiting for the destruction of the Church to unfold. ”
Prominent clergy, scholars accuse Pope Francis of heresy in open letter.”
“A group of more than sixty Catholics, including some prominent academics, have published an open letter to the bishops of the world accusing Pope Francis of heresy.” It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

AmazonaMay 4, 2019 / 10:06 am

A year or so ago I visited another parish, in Denver, and although I couldn’t hear all of the homily—some rude people refused to take their screaming children to the cry room—the priest told the congregations that they should read every word the Pope writes, and not to worry that this would mean they were committing heresy. I nearly fell out of my pew.

I have no use for this Pope, and think he is clearly a Communist intent on destroying the Church, or at the very least using it to further Leftist agendas, which I think amounts to the same thing.

I get the Jesuit newsletter, which disgusts me. From being the muscular defenders of the faith, Jezzies have become lapdogs of the International Left, so squishy and tepid they are unrecognizable. I donate to my parish and support local Catholic endeavors, such as a local home for unwed mothers, and seminarians, and I think the Denver archdiocese is pretty sound.

I think the Left is going to be experiencing pushback from many directions.

ClusterMay 4, 2019 / 9:44 am

So as you all know I watch quite a bit of MSNBC for the comedy and it is astonishing what you hear on that channel. I had to laugh this morning when Susan Del Percio was on with David Gura. Susan is a frequent guest on many shows on MSNBC and she is just one of many panelists who repeat the progressive narrative ad nauseam … in fact her comments are completely predictable as are all panelists comments but this morning I saw for the first time her “label” or credentials. On the chryon this morning under Susan as she was commenting it read:

Susan Del Percio
Republican Strategist.

OMG, if she is in fact a Republican strategist, someone please fire her. No wonder the Republicans are so worthless.

AmazonaMay 4, 2019 / 10:14 am

No, Cluster. She merely IDENTIFIES as a Republican. If all women don’t have vaginas, then surely all self-identified Republicans can still be rabid Leftists. When there are no definitions, well, there are no definitions. Kathy Griffin identifies as a comedian.

I have decided to identify as a 28-year-old downhill ski racer and then sue the Olympic Committee for not putting me on the team.

ClusterMay 4, 2019 / 11:41 am

LOL … add a transgender angle to it and you will win that lawsuit

Retired SpookMay 4, 2019 / 10:49 am

The number of so-called Republicans who still oppose Trump continues to shrink. Last poll I saw a couple weeks ago showed 93% support for Trump among Republicans. Anyone who hasn’t jumped on the Trump train at this point probably isn’t really a Republican. And what’s really interesting is that Trump is achieving there very things most of the Never-Trumpers have spent their lives advocating for but NEVER achieving. If the economic numbers that came out this week continue, the only way the Dems beat him is by lying and cheating.

Retired SpookMay 4, 2019 / 12:12 pm

What I’d really like to see come out of Barr’s upcoming investigation, is the revelation that Adam Schiff leaked classified material and see him perp-walked out of the Capitol. Speaking of perp walks, what ever happened to the 8 criminal referrals Devin Nunes was supposed to have forwarded to the DOJ several weeks ago? The only reference I’ve been able to find since Nunes’ announcement on several April 7th Sunday TV shows is this article on April 13th. I’d like to think that there’s a lot going on behind the scenes that we are not privy to.

ClusterMay 4, 2019 / 12:22 pm

Adam Schiff leaked classified material and see him perp-walked out of the Capitol

I would pay to see that. And I think a lot is going on behind the scenes. I think Barr is crafty and he knows Washington like few others. I am convinced that he will methodically get to the truth and that’s what has the Democrats and the media so panicked. I am curious as to know how many media members knew that this was all fabricated from the beginning, but promoted the narrative anyway.

Mueller’s redacted report mentions the dossier as a footnote. It was created by former spy Christopher Steele, who worked for Fusion GPS, a political research firm first hired by Republican media outlet Washington Free Beacon and then Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign to investigate Trump. (emphasis – mine)

Mueller describes Trump’s desire to refute the dossier, which alleged blackmail material Russia had on Trump, and a person — involved in circulating rumors in the dossier that there were tapes showing Trump engaged in embarrassing acts — saying the mentioned tapes were fake.

The report did not detail if the dossier was used to authorize spying on Page (WTF!!), as Nunes has alleged. But Nunes has been trying to find his own answers — with significantly diminished power in 2018, as Democrats taking over the House means he is no longer chair of the Intelligence Committee and therefore lost his ability to subpoena witnesses. (emphasis – mine)

Several people have testified that the dossier made up the lion’s share of the FISA warrant request. If it was nothing more than a “footnote” in the Mueller Report, what the hell did they do for two years other than put together a soap opera of material that did not reflect any illegality but was designed to embarrass Trump and members of his transition team and administration. I have to say, I’m in agreement with Trey Goudy that Barr should never have released the Mueller Report. It is simply not the job of a prosecutor to say or publish the fact that, while he didn’t find any crimes, he did find a lot of embarrassing material about the subject of the investigation. That’s not the way the American justice system is supposed to work.

ClusterMay 4, 2019 / 1:19 pm

My understanding is that the Mueller report reads more like a gossip rag than a serious inquiry into alleged illegalities. It’s all a joke.

ClusterMay 5, 2019 / 9:09 am

The irony of all ironies:

Speaker Nancy Pelosi fears Trump won’t ‘respect the election’ if he loses by a small margin in 2020 and says the President will ‘poison the public mind’

She’s worried Trump wont respect the results of an election? And poison the public mind??? ARE YOU F****ING KIDDING ME?

Who are these people?

And MSNBC this morning is trying to convince their viewers that Trump is blocking investigations and won’t allow a “co equal branch” of government to “do their job”.

Say when

Retired SpookMay 5, 2019 / 9:48 am

I said when a long time ago. I don’t think the Dems realize how close they are to having mobs with pitch forks come after them. When was the last time someone was tarred and feathered?

BTW, there was nothing in the Constitution when I checked last week that says Congress has “oversight” over the Executive Branch. I checked again this morning, and there still isn’t. Nadler keeps talking about “co-equal branches of government. The only over sight the President has over Congress is the power of veto, while Congress has an equal power to override that veto. If two thirds of the House believes the President has broken the law, they can impeach him, but I don’t think the Founders ever imagined that a House of Representatives would simply engage in an open-ended harassment of the President under the auspices of “oversight.”

AmazonaMay 5, 2019 / 12:49 pm

Spook, thanks for this comment. I have been thinking the same thing, but in a less organized fashion, and haven’t taken the time to double check the Constitution to confirm my conviction that “co-equal” does not mean one branch is, to put it in schoolyard vernacular, the boss of any other. In point of fact, if Congress could control the Executive Branch it would not be equal to the Executive Branch but superior to it. And I don’t think anyone these days could think of Congress as superior to anything.

Maybe we should demand a tutorial for Congresscritters, to help them figure out their role. Sandy says she is “the boss” because no one else has been able to match her stupidity, and other Dems also seem to have wildly exaggerated perceptions of their relevance.

ClusterMay 5, 2019 / 9:32 am

My father always taught me that “it’s not what happens to you in life. It’s how you react to it” that reveals your character and determines the outcome.

I think we can all see the character of the media and Democrats by how they react to Trump. These are very low quality people.

NANCE: I hope that I don’t see him in the green room. You know, I’m just astounded. You know, I come on here and I try to be nice and calm when I come in, and then I listen to all this analysis and it just brings out the inner patriot in me, and it should in everyone in this country. We have got to stand for our Constitution, we’ve got to stand for our laws, and to say we’re going to negotiate it out, we’re going to create a nice paper trail, that is not fighting for this country. That is not fighting for what we believe, that is not fighting to defend this nation.

So, I think, all these people that write me every day. They need need to just blow up the telephone lines on Monday. They need blow up the Twitter, and they need to hold Democrats accountable. Not the Republicans, hold the Democrats accountable, and say, this nation and our laws, you will now stand and defend. Because if you don’t them, we may not have them in 18 months. This White House now feels it can do anything. Robert Mueller has now given him permission to believe that he is untouchable. And he is not the Eliot Ness that we all wanted. And if this Congressman comes in here and says okay, we’re going to have this discussion, then that’s what you’re gonna have: you’re going to have a harshly-worded letter in a machine-gun fight.

Malcolm is not reacting very well. Of course people of very low character usually don’t.

Scientists warn that the natural world is deteriorating faster than ever as a direct result of human activity, eroding “the very foundations” of economies, livelihoods, food, health and quality of life worldwide.

A huge transformation is needed across the economy and society to protect and restore nature, which provides people with food, medicines and other materials, crop pollination, fresh water, and quality of life.

Scientists are so full of shit. In 1970 a “scientific article” in Time magazine warned that by 1985, gas masks would be required in large cities and visibility would be horrible due to all the pollution. In 1975 scientists warned of the coming ice age and how that would kill of a lot of people. In the 1980’s scientists warned us that hot dogs cause cancer, and in the 2000’s, scientists warned us that snow and recreational snow skiing would soon be a thing of the past.

Do yourself a favor and stop listening to the “experts”

Retired SpookMay 6, 2019 / 10:03 am

When you get right down to it, there has never been a doom and gloom prediction by anyone, scientist or layman during our lifetime that has come true. “Climate scientists” have been predicting a tipping point of no return ten years down the road since the early 80’s. Instead of being held accountable after the first ten years, they just rinse and repeat, and a complicit agenda media provides them cover and support. The irony of the climate change argument (can’t really call it a debate) is that because of longer growing seasons and a higher concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere, more food is being grown by fewer people than at any time in history. Why would anyone with half a brain want to reverse that unless the ultimate goal is control?

A huge transformation is needed across the economy and society to protect and restore nature, which provides people with food, medicines and other materials, crop pollination, fresh water, and quality of life.

I actually agree with that, and if we’d take the billions of dollars that are spent on “combating” climate change and spend it on disease control and eradication, clean water, sanitation and teaching people in third world countries new farming techniques, we could solve all those problems within a generation. Ironically, increasing atmospheric CO2 is actually restoring huge areas of the planet to green spaces. Sounds to me like the earth has some built-in fail-safe mechanisms.

Retired SpookMay 6, 2019 / 10:13 am

The climate change hoax has actually been somewhat entertaining to observe. How many times has a major global warming summit been hampered or cancelled because of a snow storm? Remember after Hurricane Katrina the claim was that warming oceans were going to cause an increase, not just in tropical storms but larger, stronger tropical storms. Then not a single Hurricane CAT 3 or large hit the U.S. over the next 12 years.

AmazonaMay 6, 2019 / 11:56 am

I have learned that most people know there was what is called a Little Ice Age not too long ago. When you ask “how do you get out of an ice age?” the answer, with a laugh, is always “you get warmer”. From that point it is easy to ask “how much warmer do we have to get to reach ‘normal’ ?” And of course, no one knows what “normal” IS. (Kudos to Spook for that idea, asking what is the “correct” temperature for the Earth.)

Yes, we need to be responsible and good stewards of the Earth. But that is not advanced with hysteria, marches, “protests” or being determined to impose ideology on others. It is the goal of imposing a rigid controlling ideology, based on fears stirred by emotional rhetoric, that puts the Climate Change movement so firmly in the Leftist camp.

ClusterMay 6, 2019 / 10:45 am

I am worn out by the “hysteria” and “outrage” that seems to be a constant among the Democrats and “scientific community”

AmazonaMay 6, 2019 / 11:17 am

Hysteria and outrage are staples of the emotion-driven Left, or at least of appeals to mindless sheeple by the calculating leaders of the Left. I also see it clickbait on the internet—-whenever the bait uses words like “furious” or “outraged” or “terrified” I know it is a scam.

AmazonaMay 6, 2019 / 11:30 am

The claim that Farrakhan is “far right” is just an example of two things: One is the practice of the Left claiming that anything distasteful is “far right” and one is the total lack of understanding of anything but Identity Politics.

No one with an iota of understanding of the actual definition of “left” and “right” in political terms could claim he is on the “right”—-but then the same thing is true of claims that fascism and Nazis are also on the Right.

Right now the Left is trying to deal with the ugly truth that it is anti-Semitic, and the problem of defending the freshman Representatives who are openly making anti-Semitic comments. So they have decided to take the most vocal of the Jew-haters and claim he is really “far right”, trying to shift public opinion away from themselves.

I don’t know that Farrakhan has any real political foundation. It is easy to imagine him as a collectivist in favor of dictators, and hard to see him supporting Constitutional governance, but I don’t remember hearing him make any actual POLITICAL statements.

What I do see is the effort of the Left to demonize the Right, and that effort in being illustrated by claiming that the radical and violent movement they have created (and which I am coming to doubt actually exists outside of a few paid agitators and PR people) and called Antifa, or Anti-Fascist, is really an effort to combat the fascism of the Right. Just as the Left tried to demonize Hitler’s Germany by claiming that HIS form of socialism was really right-wing.

As in the United States the political term “right” defines only the determination that the United States must be governed according to its Constitution, I don’t even understand the meaning of “FAR Right”—–does that mean people who are really REALLY REALLY dedicated to the concept of Constitutional governance?

We on the Right let this kind of thing happen because so many of us are guilty of attaching all sorts of non-political “values” to the term, making it easy for the opposition to attach their own claims. If we would simply define “the Right” in purely political terms, and put all “values” and “principles” and causes in a different, non-political, category where they have to be addressed within the scope of the political definition, I think we would simultaneously win a lot more people over to our side and hamper the ability of the Left to hang its own claims on us.

AmazonaMay 6, 2019 / 11:43 am

I am doing my part, or trying to. I have hired two boys, who are now 12 and 14, to help me on my farm, and they are, by the way, the best crew I have ever had. They love to work, they are smart and know more than most adults I have worked with about equipment and so on, and they are a joy to work with. Their parents are conservative, but not educated about conservatism.

Yesterday the older boy mentioned that a teacher had had the class write an essay on whether the MLB should ban wooden bats because of the shortage of lumber, in favor of aluminum bats. I laughed out loud. A lot. So they got a quick lecture on the origins of the National Forests, their stated purpose in the charter of being created to provide an ongoing supply of lumber for the nation and being under the control of the Department of Agriculture for that reason. They got an overview of how the Left has interfered with that charter by trying to ban forestry in the National Forests, and how their efforts let the pine beetle borer run rampant until literally millions of acres of wood have been destroyed, wiping out massive forests from border to border, making the Left RESPONSIBLE for any lumber shortage, if there is one. And then suggested that if he ever gets an assignment like that again he do a quick search on the environmental impact of producing aluminum, from the mining to the refining, with a quick side trip into the environmental impact of providing the materials for the beloved “green” movement.

Their instincts are good, but no one has ever given them the tools to defend them. It’s not hard. I worked with a lawyer who taught me this stuff about the National Forests because she had been instrumental in fighting the feds over their mismanagement of the forests. Her tutorial was a lot more detailed than mine, but I remember enough to pass it on. It’s not hard to give overviews of things to give people enough basic knowledge to address stupid comments and beliefs, but we don’t do that, any more than we discuss the structure of political systems so people can recognize where they stand on the left/right spectrum regardless of what labels have been slapped on them.

AmazonaMay 6, 2019 / 12:41 pm

Here we have another example of how those in the bubble think the bubble is reality, justified and above reproach. Here a Dem Congressman blurts out the real reason for the frantic effort to impeach Trump. (Not that it hasn’t been obvious all along, but wow—to come right out and admit it !)

@RepAlGreen: “I’m concerned if we don’t impeach this president, he will get re-elected. … We must impeach him.”

This is an actual admission from someone in the group that would impeach that it considers impeachment an acceptable political tool to attack the opposition and gain power for itself.

ClusterMay 7, 2019 / 8:50 am

Their desperation is just beginning:

And what is worse, those Democrat operatives have no respite ahead from the factual record. It will be found, from the evidence, that the FISA warrants allowing the Obama administration to spy on individuals associated with the Trump campaign were attained through deliberate falsehood and abuse of power, and it will likely be in evidence, when the investigations get to the appropriate point, that this abuse came from the highest levels of government.

Furthermore, the investigation will prove not only that the Obama administration covered up criminal activity associated with and underlying Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server to conduct government business as Secretary of State under Obama, activity not only tolerated but participated in by officials at the highest levels of government.

And nothing can stop this. Nothing, that is, but political pressure on Barr. As Strassel said, he must be demonized and discredited before the inspector general’s report and the related investigations of the Trump-Russia mess are made public and the prosecutions begin.

That’s why the Democrats on Capitol Hill are so intent on attacking Barr. He is the messenger, and he must be silenced before the message can be delivered.